The Tired Dog Whisperer

Anne Roberts – Second Grade Teacheranne.roberts@onslow.k12.nc.us

Jacksonville, North CarolinaJuly 22, 2012

Goals

Knowledge: (students will understand…)• What engineering and technology are and what engineers do• Engineering problems have multiple

solutions• Society influences and is influenced by engineering• How technology affects the world

From Museum of Science, Boston Engineering is Elementary Program

I use this problem with my second graders to teach the Engineering Design Process and the engineering goals listed on the next page. It does not specifically address any NC science standards for second grade but could be used to address the others listed on slide 6. I did not list them but it also addresses many of the Common Core ELA and Mathematics standards, especially in speaking and data collection.

Teacher’s Note

Skills/Experience: (Engineering is Elementary)

(The student will be able to…)

•Apply the Engineering Design Process•Apply science and math in engineering•Employ creativity and careful thinking to solve problems•Envision one’s own abilities as an engineer•Troubleshoot and learn from failure•Understand the central role of materials and their properties in engineering solutions.

This lesson would be taught prior to a lesson on simple machines to engage the students in the topic or at the end as an assessment. One round of the EDP could be used at the beginning and then the students could go through the EDP again as a form of post assessment.It is assumed that the students have at least some experiences working with the EDP so this lesson is more of an engineering lesson than a “teach the EDP” lesson.

North Carolina Essential Standards for Science

1.P.1 Understand how forces (pushes or pulls) affect the motion of an object.

3.P.1 Understand motion and factors that affect motion.

4.P.1 Explain how various forces affect the motion of an object.5.P.1 Understand force, motion and the relationship between them

Emily is 8 years old and lives in a large housing complex. Unlike

many other kids in the community Emily does not have a bicycle,

wagon or any other kind of outdoor toys. For fun Emily likes to

play with and train her dogs. Emily’s family has 8 large dogs. It

is Emily’s job to care for the dogs. The dogs live outside in a pen

that is 200 yards from the house. The house has no outside spigots

so Emily must carry buckets of water to the dogs’ pen each day.

North Carolina summers are very hot so Emily must take water to

the dogs twice each day. She has to carry two large buckets to the

pen in order to fill all the dishes. Many days, by the time she gets

there the buckets are half empty and she must return to the house

to get another bucket of water to finish the job. Emily’s family

cannot make any changes to the property so they cannot add

spigots or lay pipes.

Step 1: Present the Problem

Help Emily design a solution to her

problem. How can she water to the dogs’

pen more easily? Emily looked around in

the shed and she found some rope, a few

old wagon and bicycle wheels and wood

scraps of all different sizes and shapes.

She also has 8 3-gallon buckets and an

assortment of bolts, nails, and screws.

Your Engineering Design Challenge

Step 2: AskIn this step students will ask questions to clarify and understand the problem and available materials.

After a brief period of time for thinking about the problem students will ask questions which will be answered…or not by the teacher.

Step 3: ImagineStudents will spend a few minutes discussing the problem with their working groups. Then spend a few minutes as a class discussing possible solutions. At this time the teacher is only to record the solutions given by the students. Check each solution for fit within the problem and material parameters.

Step 4: PlanStudents will plan (sketch) at least two ways the problem could be solved. They must have detailed, labeled sketches showing at least three different views. This could take as long as one whole class period.

If you are using this as a jumping off point for the unit you can stop after this step and discuss the solutions the children came up with. Throughout the unit tie these solutions into the different machines you study.

Students work together to create a solution for the problem. Remind them to only work on one solution.

Step 5: Create

Step 6: ExperimentStudents test their designs by using actual water and buckets. This is where they record their data or what happened when they tried it out.

Step 7: ImproveStudents discuss what went well -- or not, in their design and they begin the process anew as they try to improve their designs.

This is a good place to stop and share as a whole class.

Assessment: I typically use this or a similar rubric (depending on my goals) to assess student work. You can make a “kid friendly” rubric with the same goals as the teacher’s rubric for peer and self assessment.